Thick, spiked outer covering? / WED 1-28-26 / Score points in Pac-Man, say / Casting rod? / Number indicating position: Abbr. / Arctic fishing shelter / Article of furniture on which a plate of oats might be set? / Walk from one coop to another? / Commoner, informally / Teenager's response to a dad joke / Dirk Nowitzki's longtime team, to fans

Constructor: Kevin Curry

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: Animal "S" shift — familiar compound or two-part terms and phrases involving animals are clued as possessive phrases—that is, you have to mentally take the "S" from the front of the second part of the base answer and affix it (with an apostrophe) to the end of the first part. The wacky possessive phrases are clued wackily ("?"-style):

Theme answers:

• HORSE'S TABLE (17A: Article of furniture on which a plate of oats might be set?) (from "horse stable")
• DRAGON'S LAYER (23A: Thick, spiked outer covering?) (from ... the movie Dragonslayer?)
• PIG'S KIN (37A: Relatives in a sty?) (from "pigskin")
• CAT'S CAN (39A: "Throne" for a lion king?) (from "CAT scan")
• CHICKEN'S TRIP (46A: Walk from one coop to another?) (from "chicken strip")
• TURTLE'S HELL (56A: Being flipped on its back, e.g.?)  (from "turtle shell")

Word of the Day: DRAGONSLAYER (see 23A) —

Dragonslayer is a 1981 American dark fantasy film directed by Matthew Robbins from a screenplay he co-wrote with Hal Barwood. It stars Peter MacNicol in his feature film debut, Ralph Richardson, John Hallam, and Caitlin Clarke. It was a co-production between Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Productions, where Paramount handled North American distribution and Disney handled international distribution through Buena Vista International. The story is set in a fictional medieval kingdom where a young wizard encounters challenges as he hunts a dragon, Vermithrax Pejorative.

It is the second joint production between Paramount and Disney, after Popeye (1980), and is more mature than most contemporary Disney films. Because the audience expected the film to be solely children's entertainment, the violence, adult themes and brief nudity were somewhat controversial, though Disney did not hold the North American distribution rights. The film was rated PG in the U.S. Like The Black Hole (1979), the version of the film broadcast on the Disney Channel was edited to remove two scenes.

The special effects were created at Industrial Light and Magic, the first use of ILM outside of a Lucasfilm production. Phil Tippett had co-developed an animation technique there for The Empire Strikes Back (1980) called go motion, a variation on stop motion. This led to the film's nomination for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, but it lost to Raiders of the Lost Ark, the only other visual effects nominee that year, whose special effects were also provided by ILM. Including the hydraulic 40-foot (12 m) model, the dragon consists of 16 puppets dedicated to flying, crawling, or breathing fire.

The film received generally positive reviews from critics, but it performed poorly at the box office, grossing $14.1 million worldwide against a production budget of $18 million. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score, which went to Chariots of Fire. It was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, again given to Raiders of the Lost Ark. (wikipedia)

• • •

If nothing else, this puzzle has inspired me to watch DRAGONSLAYER (1981). Despite being the target audience for this thing (12-year-olds who were into Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, and video games), I somehow missed it completely. It came out the same year as Raiders, so I was probably too busy seeing that five or six times. Anyway, 45 years later I think I am in exactly the right frame of mind to watch a movie featuring a puppet dragon called Vermithrax Pejorative. That's its surname! Pejorative! Amazing. Sounds bad! Anyway, thanks for the time travel, puzzle. Now I've got a new movie for my already extensive Watchlist. As for the rest of this puzzle, it seemed rudimentary and dull to me, and lacked a clear conceptual cohesiveness. Why animals? Why is one of the animals imaginary? Why is one of the animals (cat) not an animal at all in its base phrase (CAT scan), while all the other animals remain animals on both sides of the "S" switch? I kept waiting for the revealer that never came—give me a reason to be doing any of this. What's the gag? The whole "S"-shift thing feels very very Very old-fashioned. Like, I've seen variations of this specific kind of wackiness a lot before. Feels very '90s-coded, this kind of rudimentary wordplay. The clues are trying valiantly to make it all fun—toilets for lions, pig family reunions—but ultimately the wackiness all seemed pretty tepid. And then the fill was bland, with a tired short stuff—LOS LAS ORD ADE ECO EMO etc. The bottom is particularly grim, with a whole stack of things I'd rather not see (a turtle being tortured on top of AD FEES on top of a DESPOT). I would not say this puzzle is "SO LAME," but then I would never use that phrase since disabled people I knew got me to stop using "lame" as a general pejorative decades ago. Speaking of Pejorative, I gotta wrap this up so I can go watch DRAGONSLAYER! (Actually, I gotta work today, but later, for sure!)

This one was fairly color-by-numbers, right from the jump, with the gimme AÇAI allowing me to toggle to Downs and tick them all off in order. Repeat same thing with MEDUSA. The only resistance today, outside the semi-wacky theme answers, was in the cluing for a handful of the short clues. POWER had a tricky "?" clue (13D: Outlet store?—because an "outlet" is where POWER is "stored"). For some reason CLIPS took me a few crosses to get (46D: Assortment to view on YouTube)—I think of myself as watching videos, not CLIPS (which, to me, are parts of larger filmed things), but ... fair enough. Had SLINK before SKULK (33D: Sneak around)—just glad I didn't write in SNEAK there. Seems like something I'd do, especially if I was going too fast and not really paying attention. Second ORD in the past week, so that's ... bad. Had to wait on the "N" in SNARFS since it could so easily have been SCARFS (44D: Wolfs (down)). But this is all ordinary difficulty—the kind of vagueness and misdirection you might find on any day. Very mild. Mostly this one just seemed boring. Not POOR. Just blah.

Bullets:

• 5A: Monster whose gaze remained lethal after her death (MEDUSA) — I'd forgotten this. That 12yo who played D&D (but failed to see DRAGONSLAYER) probably knew this MEDUSA fact very well. I miss that kid.
• 40A: Arctic fishing shelter (ICE HUT) — that's where I.C.E. should go—to the ICE HUT! And then, you know, stay there. Til summer.
• 2D: Member-owned business (CO-OP) — yeah, I see you trying to make this a non-chicken answer, but this still looks exactly like "COOP," which is in your CHICKEN'S TRIP clue; I'd probably have tried to figure out a way to get rid of it (or, easier, just rewrite that CHICKEN'S TRIP clue (46A: Walk from one coop to another?)—there are way, way funnier ways to go at that one). 
• 30A: Casting rod? (WAND) — I'm telling you, 12yo me would've been really into crosswords if he'd known there were MEDUSAs and DRAGONSLAYERs and wizards with WANDs!). Ooh, and Pac-Man!! (6D: Score points in Pac-Man, say). You could've sold me on your adult pastime pretty easy, I think. 

That's it for today. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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Cunning, like Mr. Tod or Swiper / TUES 1-27-26 / Wrangler on the road / Britishly precious / Trickster figure in Native American folklore

Hi, everyone! It’s Clare for the last Tuesday of January. Hope you’re all staying warm and not slipping and sliding in the snow. We got about seven inches of snow here in D.C., though a lot of that was sleet. Some friends and I went on a walk with my pup, and she had a wonderful time; almost no cars were on the road, so we had the streets mostly to ourselves. Then we made lasagna soup while watching football, and one of the two games went my way (boo, Patriots; go, Seahawks!). Otherwise, I’ve been staying busy watching a lot of the Australian Open (go, Coco!), and reading lots — while finding any reason not to step foot outside (other than for my puppy, of course). 

ANYHOO, on to the puzzle…

Constructors: Miranda Kany and Tracy Bennett

Relative difficulty: Easier than a usual Tuesday

THEME: EMPTY NESTER (54A: Metaphor for a parent whose youngest has "launched" ... like the little bird whose progress is suggested by 21-, 33- and 41-Across) — Each of the theme answers describes baby birds in sequential order as they learn to fly and leave the nest

Theme answers:

• IN THE STICKS (21A: Far from any urban center, colloquially) 
• OUT ON A LIMB (33A: Potentially at risk, metaphorically) 
• FLYING HIGH (41A: In a soaring mood, so to speak)

Word of the Day: ERIVO (2D: "Wicked" co-star Cynthia __) —

Cynthia Chinasaokwu Onyedinmanasu Amarachukwu Owezuke Echimino Erivo (born 8 January 1987) is an English actress, singer, and songwriter. Known for her work on both stage and screen, she is the recipient of several accolades and one of a few individuals nominated for an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award (EGOT), winning all but the Oscar… Erivo's work for “The Color Purple” won her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, as well as a Daytime Emmy Award. (Wiki)

• • •

That was a nice puzzle with a cute theme. It was so nice and so unobjectionable that I’m struggling to even find much to say about it. I liked the way the theme answers progressed as a little bird does. And each of the phrases, while clued in colloquial terms, describes birds nicely. I did think the clue for the theme answer could have been a little tighter, as the “youngest” isn’t always the last to leave the metaphorical nest in a household. But that’s a nit. 

There seemed to be a lot of duplicate clue/answer combos in the puzzle, which was clever. Like obviously MAMA (10A: Cry from a crib, perhaps) and PAPA (56D: Cry from a crib, perhaps). PETAL (1A: Potpourri piece) sits on top of A / ROSE (14A: Came up) if you look at it that way. ALOHA (7D: Hi in HI) is directly above LEI (34D: Floral ring). OPRY (37A: Nashville has a "grand ole" one) and REO (38A: ___ Speed Wagon (old vehicle)) are tangentially related, as the Grand Ole OPRY is a country music venue, and REO, though clued differently, was an American rock band. Both FOXY (41D: Cunning, like Mr. Tod or Swiper) and COYOTE (24A: Trickster figure in Native American folklore) were in the puzzle. And LOUNGED (42D: Chillaxed, say) and IDLED (52D: Did diddly-squat) are another duplication of sorts. Both IVS (20A: Hosp. hookups) and a DOSE (67A: Medical measure) are given in hospitals. The one place this didn’t work is how both LOTS (18A: Heaps) and LOT (32D: Area to build on) are in the puzzle, which seems like an oversight. Initially, I thought it was clever having LOTS cross SITES (8D: Loci), but not with another LOT in the puzzle. I didn’t like that… a LOT. 

There weren’t many proper nouns or, more specifically, people in the puzzle, which might’ve made it easier for me. The only people are ALEC Guinness (11D), Rita ORA (37D), Issa RAE (62D), and Cynthia ERIVO (2D) — all of whom are either common in crosswords or are well-known. I did puzzle over NOAH (59A: "Captain" on Mount Ararat) for a bit before realizing it meant NOAH of NOAH’s ark. “Captain” seems like an odd way to describe him. 

I loved some of the words and phrases in the puzzle. TOPSY TURVY (3D: Downside-up) is my absolute favorite. It’s just so fun to say and invokes such a fun idea. I also think ROUGH HOUSE (30D: Engage in boisterous activity) is a good expression. URCHIN (51A: Ragamuffin) is a great word, supported by another great word, “ragamuffin,” in its clue. I love a SLUSH fund (47A). (We’ll certainly be getting a lot of SLUSH here in D.C. after the snow eventually starts to melt, if it’s ever no longer 12 degrees every day.) And I love a MOJITO (10D: Cuban rum cocktail), though my go-to cocktail is usually a margarita or possibly now a Cosmopolitan. I also love the word MOOT (55D: Debatable), though my first thought was for the definition of something having no relevance, rather than something debatable. TWEE (57D: Britishly precious) is another fun word. 

Amusingly, the place I got the most stuck was with ANYHOO (45A: "Moving right along ..."). I use that word in every one of my write-ups, and I’ve declared (potentially incorrectly, but oh, well) that I will always spell it “anywho,” so it was hard to wrap my head around a different spelling. It didn’t help that HETHEY (46D: Possible pronoun pairing) originally looked strange to me before I parsed it out as HE / THEY. But knowing that FOXY (41D) had to be the answer helped me figure out it was ANYHOO. And the crosses for HE / THEY (46D) were pretty straightforward. 

I didn’t love NIP AT (17A: Give friendly bites, as a puppy might) or TAG ON (27A: Add as an afterthought) as they’re those types of clues that feel like they could be any number of different, blah answers. I RULE (61A: "Yay me!") feels childish. I don’t think of a DISC (3D: Chip shape) as the shape of a chip. If we’re talking computer chips, those are fabricated on discs, sure, but they’re cut into rectangles before they wind up in your electronics. And it took me longer than it really should have to get OATY (25D: Like some cookies and milk) because I thought that the clue was describing them together, rather than what each one of them could be. 

But overall, this was a cute and quick puzzle to snuggle up with on a cold winter night.

Misc.:

• With FOXY (41D: Cunning, like Mr. Tod or Swiper), all I could think about is Dora the Explorer (and me, when you were supposed to chant along with her) saying “Swiper, no swiping.” What a cunning little fox. 
• I got STAY (66A: Corset component) quite easily thanks to the multitude of historical romances I’ve read! 
• One of the most remarkable performances I’ve seen was from Cynthia ERIVO (2D) at the Tony Awards in 2016, where she sang “I’m Here” from “The Color Purple” and won the award for Best Actress in a Musical. I get chills every single time. She’s the reason the Hamilton cast didn’t sweep the musical acting awards that year, and I’m OK with that. She’s incredible. 
• Here’s a pic of Red enjoying the snow, and here’s a pic of me carrying her when she got cold — 
• 
• 
• I ended my last write-up in 2025 with my list of favorite books, so I thought I’d keep that trend going. My favorite book of 2026 so far is the very first book I read in it — “My Friends” by Fredrik Backman. It had me crying and laughing at the same time, in equal measures. 
• Finally, a PSA: The Olympics start on Feb. 6! By the time I’m back for a write-up, the Olympics will be over. So everyone needs to make sure to watch the Alpine skiing for Mikaela Shiffrin (and all the sports, of course)!

That’s all from me! Stay warm, and I’ll see ya in February.

Signed, Clare Carroll, mother of a soon-to-be SLUSH puppy

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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